Mia and Masha go through to National finals in the Cambridge Debating Competition

Sheffield Girls' had a fantastic day at the regional finals of the Cambridge Debating competition on Saturday 21 January at Manchester Grammar School. Three teams from Year 11 took part in the competition: Courteney Plester and Beth Kearsley; Mia Harrison and Masha Novikova and Safia Cecchini and Neha Ray.

The topic for the first debate was: "This house would abolish all labour laws in developing countries", the second was " This house regrets the rise of social media as a primary source of news distribution" and the third "This house supports Israel's policy of intentional ambiguity in neither confirming or denying that it possesses nuclear weapons". Teams have only 15 minutes to prepare arguments for and against the motions and then speak for five minutes each.

Mrs Dunsford, who accompanied the teams to the competition, reported: 'It was a really tough competition with teams from Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Harrogate and Sheffield. There were three rounds of debate with some of the most difficult motions I have ever come across in a school debating competition.'

Mia and Masha won their first two debates and after a tense final round, the overall results were announced. Neha, Safia, Beth and Courteney were placed in the top ten, and Mia and Masha were placed second overall, which means they have now qualified for the national finals which will be held at Cambridge University in February.

The teams are now preparing to return to Manchester Grammar School this week to take part in the Oxford Schools competition. We wish them a very successful trip!